Q: How do I diagnose Linux's failure to
mount an NFS share? I'm trying to export the /home directory to be
mounted on another Unix workstation. I've started rpc.portmap,
rpc.mountd, and rpc.nfsd, and verified that they`re running. I've placed
the following line in /etc/exports:

/home statler(rw)

and run exportfs.

When I try to mount the /home directory on statler, I get
the following error:

nfs_mount 2: error while mounting /home; no such file or
directory

I have no reason to believe it's a client-side problem,
since statler mounts a directory from another workstation. And,
waldorf (the Linux workstation) correctly mounts exported
filesystems from statler.

A: This qualifies as one of those "the problem could be
anything" questions, unfortunately. Here are a few things to
try:

Replace everything you can with IP addresses, at least to
start.

Also, make sure that you have a direct route between the
machines. Ideally, set up a test configuration (temporarily)
using a cross-over ethernet cable, rather than going through a
hub or switch between the machines.

On that latter comment: Some ethernet switches do not by
default pass large packets. Therefore, you may wish to try
qualifying the "mount" command with options to limit packet
size to below the MTU value, e.g., "rsize=1024,wsize=1024".

You can analyze your routing tables, or just type route add
100.100.0.1 (use the IP number of the other machine) on both
machines.